The Case

by Laura Moriarty

Poetry. "THE CASE, besides being a mystery to be solved (where is the dead beloved, what happened to him?) and a literal case or box containing items (as with Duchamp's Boxes) pertinent to the larger work (the 'wedding'; or past and present lives) also strikes the reader as a private enclosure in which the poet confronts herself and what has happened. This space is sometimes theatrical or artifact-like, sometimes inclusive of the natural world; real objects and present experience can take part in the confrontation. Experience is encountered not described, the present is what it's like when it's happening even if it's pain. Though THE CASE is a private domain it isn't the poet is alone thinking, yet others feel nearby in their warmth. THE CASE is appropriately muted, but not reticent. Its colors seem wisely chosen. It's full of light, ocean light, house light, the light of a shadow puppet show. The subject of the book isn't at all darkness, it's the peculiarly lit and peculiarly gracious space in which rituals of loss take place."—Alice Notley

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Laura Moriarty’s books include A Tonalist an essay poem from Nightboat Books, the novels, Cunning and Ultravioleta. A Semblance: Selected and New Poems, 1975 – 2007 came out from Omnidawn in 2007. Who That Divines is forthcoming from Nightboat Books. She is the author of ten other books of poetry going back to 1980. She won the Poetry Center Book Award in 1983, a Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Award in Poetry in 1992, a New Langton Arts Award in Literature 1998 and a Fund for Poetry grant in 2007. She has taught at Mills College and Naropa University, among other places, and is Deputy Director of Small Press Distribution. For more, see the blog A Tonalist Notes.

Photo by Marc Lecard.